The present invention relates to the utilization of semiconductor devices as radiation emitters, and more particularly to the operation of electroluminescent semiconductor devices having bodies of amorphous silicon fabricated by a glow discharge.
Semiconductor devices having bodies of amorphous silicon fabricated by a glow discharge in silane or in a gas atmosphere including hydrogen, silicon and a halogen selected from the group consisting of chlorine, bromine, and iodine, have been utilized as solar cells, photodetectors and current rectifiers. Specifically, some of these semiconductor devices have been PIN or Schottky barrier structures. One of the advantages of these devices is that they are low cost because they require relatively thin bodies of amorphous silicon, i.e. one micron or less. In the field of electroluminescent devices it would also be desirable to have thin semiconductor bodies, thereby reducing the materials cost in the fabrication of the electroluminescent devices. In addition, if the semiconductor material of an electroluminescent device is compatible with single crystalline or polycrystalline silicon there is an additional advantage of incorporating such an electroluminescent device in an integrated circuit chip.